Method of performing web-clipping, a web-clipping server and a system for web-clipping

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for performing web clipping at an intermediate clip server (ICS)—performing an intermediate rendering (VR 1 ) by—accessing at least one source web site (SWS),—executing some or all scripts of a web document of the accessed source web site (SWS),—establishing a clip instance (CI) on the basis of said intermediate rendering (VR 1 )—transmitting said clip instance (CI) to a client browser (CB). According to the invention, an effective and robust web clipping has been obtained as scripts may be executed and the relevant data imported into the clip although the scripts may be external, i.e. not included in the clip as such. Moreover, the desired web clipping may be established on the basis of external links or other data external to the clip-defining HTML.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method of performing web clipping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The World Wide Web offers several different opportunities to the worldcommunity in relation to business transactions, sharing of information,communication, etc.

A problem in the known art of Internet surfing is that only a small partof a web site may be of interest to a user.

A solution to this problem has been provided by the “web-clipping”technology. This technology provides software for cutting elementsincluded in a web page, and subsequently inserting them into a “personalweb site”. This technology typically operates by separating the HTML ofthe original web page into another web site or portal.

In recent years web clipping has mainly been applied for the purpose ofreducing bandwidth requirements in relation to application of e.g.cordless operated PDA's or, alternatively, for the purpose of allowingthe individual user to customize his personal platform principallyindependent of the web portal from which the web page originates.

However, one problem related to web clipping is that the web site maycontain dynamic HTML (DHTML) which means that there might be scriptinglanguage such as for example JavaScript included in the HTML. When a website like this is clipped, some of the elements will not functioncorrectly because the HTML is drawn out of its context. For example, theJavaScript may be dependent on the structure of the HTML document, andwill fail because the structure will be different in the clipped page.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to method of performing web clipping at anintermediate clip server (ICS)

-   -   performing an intermediate rendering (VR1) by        -   accessing at least one source web site (SWS),        -   executing some or all scripts of a web document of the            accessed source web site (SWS),    -   establishing a clip instance (CI) on the basis of said        intermediate rendering (VR1)    -   transmitting said clip instance (CI) to a client browser (CB).

According to an embodiment of the invention a web document is broadlyunderstood as a document which may be accessed via the web. Typical andpreferred examples of such web documents comprise HTML, XHTML, WML, XML,javascript, flash scripts, different plugins, text, etc. Web documentsmay also comprise the aforementioned types of codes or combinationsthereof.

According to the invention, intermediate rendering involves a parsinginto an intermediate Document Object Model (DOM) but not necessarilyincluding a viewing or visual representation.

The invention provides an advantageous possibility of executing code orscripts of accessed web documents in the context of the original webdocument. In this way, web clipping may be obtained without loosing dataor information contained in the web clip per se.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the intermediateclip server may comprise or communicate with a portal server.

It is noted that execution of scripts are only performed, evidently, ifsuch scripts are present in the accessed document.

According to an embodiment of the invention, an improved technique forweb clipping is provided. Elements of a web page can be selected via theGUI on a user program and pasted into destination page. The inventionprovides a technique for clipping separate elements from a web page, andsimultaneously maintain access to the original page.

According to an embodiment of the invention, an improved technique forweb clipping is provided. Elements of a web page can be selected via theGUI on a user program at design time and rendered in a destination pageat run time. The invention provides a technique for clipping separateelements, graphical or data elements, from a web page, andsimultaneously maintain access to the original page

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention web clipping alsodesignates web data collection and web logic integration in the sensethat a clip may comprise both visual representation(s), which may bepresented to the user in a modified or an unmodified state, and dataextraction applicable for e.g. web data collection or web integration.

The invention may advantageously communicate with the client browser viawireless applications, web service providers, etc.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention webclipping simple designates that the clipped content is visualized to auser one-to-one. Layout modification may be applied.

A client browser is generally understood as a web document interpretersuch as HTML in a PC Internet Browser, UUML in a WAP browser on a mobilephone, XML browser, etc.

In an embodiment of the invention, said intermediate rendering (VR1) isfurthermore updated on the basis of events at the client browser (CB).

In an embodiment of the invention, said events are established at leastpartially by view controller (VC) in the client browser (CB).

A view controller may according to a preferred embodiment of theinvention comprise an event handler. The event handler may transform,filter or convert events established in relation to an event model asevent information to the intermediate clip server. The event informationmay be established and transmitted in numerous different ways within thescope of the invention as long as the intermediate clip server receivessufficient information to establish the desired web clip instance.

In this context it should be noted that clip instances may comprisesboth a complete updated clip instance and e.g. clip update defininginformation. In other words, clip update defining information may offerthe possibility of e.g. only transmitting information defining changesof the previous clip instance and thereby obtaining a significantreduction of data from the clip server to the client browser.

The clip instance may according to the invention be established on thebasis of full or partial clipping(s) of the accessed source web site(s).

In an embodiment of the invention an intermediate clip server (ICS)performs an intermediate rendering (VR1) by

-   -   accessing at least one source web site (SWS),    -   parsing at least a part of a web document obtained from said        source web site (SWS) into the an intermediate document object        model(IDOM) and executing some or all scripts of the source web        site (SWS),    -   establishing a clip instance (CI) on the basis of said        intermediate rendering (IR)    -   transmitting said clip instance (CI) to a client browser (CB).

In an embodiment of the invention, said web document comprises an HTMLdocument.

In an embodiment of the invention, said establishing of a clip instance(CI) is established by an extraction of said web document.

In an embodiment of the invention, said establishing of a clip instance(CI) involves a clipping in said web document with reference to saidintermediate DOM.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the desiredclipping may be established in relation to the HTML code whenrepresented with reference to a DOM, thereby enabling a robust clippingwith respect to e.g. modification or changes of the source web site.When establishing the clipping with reference to a DOM-structured datarepresentation, the source web site may be tracked more efficiently whenthe source web site merely modifies data and at the same time keeps thedata structure constant. Alternatively, significant efforts should bemade to adapt the desired clipping to the current set of data.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) is transmittedto the client browser (CB) via an encrypted protocol.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) is transmittedto the client browser (CB) via HTTP/HTTPS by small XML packets.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) is transmittedto the client browser (CB) by means of IP packets.

In an embodiment of the invention said web clipping is performed as apart of a continuous accessing of said at least one source web site(SWS).

In an embodiment of the invention said transmitting of said clipinstance (CI) during said continuous accessing is at least partlycontrolled by client browser events.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, web clippingshould enable a continuous accessing of the web source according to theclipping defined by the intermediate web server.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) comprisespartial clip updates.

According to an embodiment of the invention, partial clip updates isapplied for the purpose of reducing bandwidth usage, reducing responsetimes, improving view update behavior in the client browser (CB), orcomplexity, by transmitting only changes in the clip instance during theongoing access to the source web site.

In an embodiment of the invention said partial clip updates aretransmitted as changes in said clip instance to the client browser (CB)by means of AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) defines apartial view of the accessed source web site (SWS) and wherein at leasta part of said partial view is established on the basis of code executedon said intermediate clip server (ICS).

According to an embodiment of the invention code may advantageouslycomprises scripts contained in the accessed web document(s).

It should be noted that such execution of scripts only are performed ifsuch scripts exist at the source web site(s), obviously.

In an embodiment of the invention said intermediate clip server is atleast partially controlled by means of clip settings (CS).

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the clip settingsmay be predetermined at the intermediate clip server.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) comprisesscripts to be executed in said client browser (CB).

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) containsmodified actions (MA) such as links, click events or browser eventsreferring to the intermediate clip server (ICS).

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the establishedclip instance should be transmitted in a format which may result in aviewing at the client. Such format would typically be a format which maybe interpreted according to a typical DOM at a client browser, therebyestablishing a system which may require more or less no modification andspecialized configuration at the client. In such way, any standardcomputer having a standard browser may benefit from the system.

Nevertheless, according to a further embodiment of the invention, theclip instance or the clip instances may be established and transmittedto the client browser in a modified state which fits in a customized wayto the DOM or the configuration of the client.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance (CI) utilizes aview controller (VC) available to the user of the client browser forperforming interactive actions between the client browser and the sourceweb site (SWS).

In an embodiment of the invention said view controller (VC) updates theview established by the client browser on the basis of said partial clipupdate.

In an embodiment of the invention said view controller transmits eventsestablished in relation to an event model of the client browser (CB) asevent information to the intermediate clip server.

The event information may be established and transmitted in numerousdifferent ways within the scope of the invention as long as theintermediate clip server receives sufficient information to establishthe desired web clip instance.

In an embodiment of the invention the intermediate clip servercommunicates with said client browser via a LAN, WAN or the Internet.

In an embodiment of the invention the intermediate clip servercommunicates with said at least one source web site via a LAN, WAN orthe Internet.

In an embodiment of the invention said clip instance is established onthe basis of clip settings established by a clip selector (CS).

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the intermediateclip server comprises or communicates with a clip selector which maydefine parts of specific sites which is intended to be clipped.Moreover, the clip selector may invoke a modification of the layout ofthe clipping, modification of logos, colors, etc., provide automaticauthorization, authentication or other automatic functionality to theclip and modify, delete or add functionality of the clipped documents,e.g. removal of buttons etc.

In an embodiment of the invention said establishing of a clip instance(CI) is established by an extraction and modification of said webdocument.

In an embodiment of the invention said intermediate rendering isperformed by a reentrant web browser.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the intermediaterendering may be performed by a reentrant browser thereby facilitating atrue multi-client system. Such reentrant web browser is capable ofhandling several browser states at the same time. The web browser may ornot have a graphic or visual rendering.

In an embodiment of the invention said intermediate clip server (ICS)transforms and combines data in a clip applicable for data collectionand logic integration.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention theintermediate clip server may be applied to support data collection andlogic integration of the accessed data web sources. Such data collectionand logic integration should typically require a transformation whichallows a client to interpret and apply the obtained data in the desiredcontext, e.g. reports, personalized databases, etc.

Moreover, the invention relates to a system comprising at least onesource web sites (SWS) an intermediate clip server (ICS) and at leastone client (CL) comprising a client browser (CB), wherein said systemperforms the method according to any of the claims 1 to 24.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawings ofwhich

FIG. 1A illustrates a web-clipping system according to an embodiment ofthe invention,

FIG. 1B illustrates a web-clipping system according to a furtherembodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 illustrates some basic functionalities of an embodiment of theinvention in a flowchart and

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As used herein, use of the following terms refers or relates to aspectsof the invention as described below.

The expression “web clipping” refers to any segment of a web page thatcan be isolated. It is a technology for cutting elements included in aweb page.

The expression “user” includes any person who acts either on behalf ofthemselves or an entity and manipulates a client device in such a way soas to gain access to the Internet and add to, delete, resize, repositionor in other ways manipulate a web page or portions thereof.

The expression “web page” includes a display of information that can beaccessed by visiting a web site. Such pages generally (but notnecessarily) include one or more hyperlinks to other parts of the pageor other pages. In a preferred embodiment, the web pages can be selectedby a user from an index of web pages. In other embodiments, the user canselect the web page without referring to an index.

The expression “web site” is a set of web pages, usually including ahomepage, generally located on the same server, and prepared andmaintained as a collection of information by a person, group, ororganization. There is no particular requirement that a web site must bean individual device. A web site can be a single device, a set ofcooperating devices, a portion of a device, or some combination thereof.It also refers to a commercial, corporate or personal location, on theWorld Wide Web.

The expression “web browser” is a software application that enables auser to display and interact with HTML documents hosted by web serversor held in a file system. Popular browsers available for personalcomputers include e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox,Opera, Netscape, Safari and Konqueror. The largest networked collectionof linked documents is known as the World Wide Web.

A Document Object Model is an interface that will allow programs andscripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure andstyle of documents. The document can be further processed and theresults of that processing can be incorporated back into the presentedpage.

The descriptions of these terms are not intended to be limiting, onlydescriptive. Other and further applications of the invention, includingextensions of these terms and concepts, would be clear to those ofordinary skill on the art after perusing this application.

FIG. 1A illustrates a web clipping system according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

The web clipping system comprises a number of source web sites SWS1,SWS2, SWS3, SWSn.

These web sites SWS1, SWS2, SWS3, SWSn communicate with an intermediateclipping server ICS via the Internet or e.g. via a local area network(LAN).

The clipping server ICS communicates with a number of clients CL1, CL2,CLm via the Internet or e.g. via a LAN.

A client CL1, CL2, CLm may access one or several of the source web sitesSWS1, SWS2, SWS3, SWSn via the intermediate clip server ICS.

The intermediate clip server ICS established a clip by means of a clipselector CS. The clip settings established by the clip selector CS maybe individual to the different clients CL1, CL2, CLm or may be shared bya group or a subset of the clients CL1, CL2, CLm.

The clip selector CS defines which parts of a source web site SWS1,SWS2, SWS3, SWSn that the intermediate clip server delivers to theindividual client or group(s) of these.

The clip selector CS may be located in connection with the intermediateclip server ICS as illustrated but it may also be located at theindividual clients CL1, CL2, CLm.

As an example of a web clipping a client CL1 requests a clipped accessto source web site SWS1. The complete representation of the source website SWS1 is referred to as a source web site instance SWSI and thisinstance is navigated or browsed by the clip server ICS at least enoughto establish the client-requested clipping instance. A typical way ofrequesting e.g. updates of a clipping instance may be establishment ofevents at the client browser (CB) The intermediate clip server ICSperforms a virtual rendering VR1 of the content of the accessed sourceweb sites SWS1 and establishes and outputs a clipping instance CI whichis passed to the client CL1 via the Internet, WAN or a LAN.

The clipping instance CI may—as indicated in the presentfigure—originate from one web source SWS1 only—or evidently from severalweb sources. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the clip instancecomprises a complete or a partial instance of a source web site instanceSWSI1.

As indicated in the drawing, a web clipping instance CI will typicallycomprise a subset of the complete available source web site instanceSWSI.

For reasons of explanation, the illustrated clip selector CS chooses oneclip CI from one source web site and delivers the same clip instance toall clients. Evidently, the clip selector may combine different clipinstances from different source web sites and deliver these to a clientwhich according to the predefined clip settings request clippinginstances from different source web sites.

FIG. 1B illustrates a further embodiment of the invention where a numberof source web sites SWS1, SWS2, SWS3, SWSn are accessed at the same timein order to establish a clipping combined from these sites.

In the illustrated embodiment the clip instance is obtained as acombination of instances SWSI1, SWSI2, SWSI3, SWSIn from different websources.

With reference to the above-mentioned FIGS. 1A and 1B it should be notedthat the obtained clip instance(s) CI may be transmitted to a singleclient such as CL1 or to a group of clients, e.g. all the illustratedclients or a subset of these.

An advantage of sharing clip instances CI or at least intermediateDOM—e.g. associated with relevant script states, window structures etc.between different requesting clients is that web sites according to thisspecific embodiment of the invention is that the predefined clips may beassociated with one or a plurality of predefined intermediate DOM'S,relevant script states, window structures etc. representing thedesignated source web sites or instances of these sites and therebyensuring that access to the current data of the relevant source websites upon request from a client may be obtained virtually with no orvery little delay.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a clipping performed and distributedby an intermediate clip server according to an embodiment of theinvention.

In step 1, Access, an intermediate clip server accesses a specifiedsource web site. The access may be initiated or triggered according topredefined access routines or upon a request from a client computer.

In step 2, Parse into IDOM, the document obtained by the source web siteis parsed into an intermediate document object model IDOM and allclip-relevant scripts are executed in order to obtain the desired avirtual rendering of the source web site. It is noted that the virtualrendering, also referred to as an intermediate rendering, may or may notinvolve a specific visual rendering. Typically, such visual renderingwould be omitted. The execution may be complete or at least enough toprovide the desired clip instance(s) to the client. According to apreferred embodiment of the invention, an execution of some or allscripts will be performed at the intermediate server. Moreover, itshould be noted that it is possible to include some scripts or at leastparts of the scripts in the clips instance which may subsequently besubmitted to the client browser for local execution of these.

In step 3, Clip/Modify, the resulting clip instance of the parseddocument(s) is/are modified according to clip settings into the desiredclip instance. The clip settings are preferably predefined. It should benoted that a clip instance may be formed by one or several source webdocuments. The modification is preferably performed with reference tothe document object model related to the accessed document as suchmodification is much more robust than a modification made with referenceto the HTML itself.

Such robustness may e.g. result in minor changes in data of the sourceweb site and will only result in the corresponding data changes at thebrowser of the client with a minimized risk of clip-setting invalidationcaused by data changes.

The resulting clip instance may e.g. comprise the relevant clipped HTMLdata—modified and adapted as necessary—, modified links, active scripts,references to links buttons etc.

Such references to scripts or buttons may allow the user of a clientbrowser to interact with the virtual rendering at the intermediate clipserver.

The clip settings may preferably be predefined with reference to theintermediate DOM in order to facilitate an easy and fast access to thedata of a source web site when a clip of a web source is requested.

In step 4, Distribution, the obtained clip instance is distributed toone or more relevant client computers ready for rendering at the clientbrowser.

Basically, all steps 1 to 3 may be run prior to any request from asingle client or they may be executed on a specific request.

One way of performing an efficient web clipping according to theinvention is to prepare an initial clip instance related to the specificrequesting client and the requested source web site.

The following steps are to be regarded optional in the sense that ahandling of events are not mandatory to each realization of access andparse into IDOM as explained in step 1 and step 2. Access may thus beobtained, as previously described as a self triggered process duringsome time of the access and some times as a result of events in a clientbrowser. This is illustrated by the dotted feed-back paths of theflowchart of FIG. 2.

In step 5, Handle events, event obtained from a view controller of theclient browser. The view controller, see FIG. 3, detects eventsperformed by a user and converts these events into event representingdata which may be submitted to the intermediate clip server ICS, seeFIG. 1 and 3.

The handle events step may furthermore filter or modify the event inorder to obtain a desired filtering, e.g. ignoring specific events,adding events and functionality or e.g. simply convert the registeredevents into event representing data suitable for the virtualintermediate rendering.

In other words, this step performed by the view controller enables thatevents may be transmitted from the client browser to the intermediateclip server and enable such events to be executed, e.g. by parsing intothe intermediate DOM of the intermediate clip server ICS.

In step 6, Execute events, the intermediate clip server ICS may thenexecute the events in their original context and update the clipinstance. The update clip instance may subsequently be transmitted tothe client browser in full or as a partial update.

Different repeat and bypass loops may be added to the flowchart withinthe scope of the invention.

A view controller is explained in a more details with reference to FIG.3 below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a further and more detailed embodiment of theinvention.

The system comprises at least one source web site SWS comprising anumber of web pages WP. The web site is connected for two-waycommunication with an intermediate clip server ICS.

The intermediate clip server ICS comprises a browser-controller BRCcontrolling a browser engine HBE.

The browser engine HBE comprises the browser state BRS related to asource web site, a clip manager CLM and a virtual rendering engine VRE.

The intermediate clip server ICS is connected for two-way communicationwith an intermediate web server IWS.

The intermediate web server IWS is again connected for two-waycommunication with a client CL such as a conventional personal computer.

A client browser CB of the client CL may be operated by a user U andcomprises a view controller VC controlling current clip instances of theclient browser CB. The view controller is a program that may be includedin and transmitted with the clip instance and automatically implementedin the client browser CB. Thus, standard browsers may be applied at theclient CL.

The above-disclosed system features automated browsing of web sites SWSin order to provide functional Application Program Interface (API)access or web clipping of one or more source web sites (SWS) in a clientbrowser CB through the portal web server IWS.

Thus, the user U may request a view from the web or portal server IWS.If the view contains a clip, the communications controller CC on theportal server IWS requests the appropriate clip CI from a browsercontroller BRC on the intermediate clip server ICS. The browsercontroller BRC spawns a browser engine HBE that can load one or severalsource web pages WP and create an appropriate virtual view, in the formof a browser state BRS, of the page using a virtual rendering engineVRE. The virtual view will typically, but not necessarily, be anon-visual view without any graphic rendering. As part of this, thebrowser controller BRC may have been configured to perform automaticnavigation and interaction with the source web site SWS, such asautomatic login on the source web site, without the user necessarilybeing aware of this. The clip manager CLM decides which part(s) of thevirtually rendered page that is communicated back to the client browserCB according the clip settings. The part(s) of the web page WP which iscommunicated is called a clip instance CI. Once loaded in the clientbrowser CB the clip may contain links that can be clicked on or otherpotential actions that the user U may perform. If such events or actionsoccur the view controller VC in the client browser CB will communicatethe relevant events or actions as well as the view context to thecommunications controller CC on the web/portal server IWS which in turnwill request a clip update from the browser controller BRC on theintermediate clip server ICS. The browser controller BRC will typicallyobtain the update by emulating or performing the events or actions onthe browser state BRS for that particular user session and source website. This ensures that the events or actions are emulated or performedin the context of the source web site, not the clipped context in theclient browser CB. The result of emulating or performing the events oractions is an updated browser state BRS reflecting the results of theevents/actions. From the updated browser state BRS, a new clip instanceCI is created and sent, as a partial or full update, to the clientbrowser CB. The update may preferably be sent as a differential updateminimizing the required bandwidth, reducing response time, and improvingthe visual update behavior in the client browser. The communicationbetween the intermediate clip server ICS and the communicationscontroller CC in the intermediate web server IWS uses a suitableprotocol and representation, such as HTTP/HTTPS as the protocol and XMLas the representation. The communication between the view controller VCin the client browser CB and the communications controller CC also usesa suitable protocol and representation, such as HTTP/HTTPS and XML. Theview controller VC may use AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) as themethod for communicating with the communications controller CC andupdating the views in the client browser.

1. Method of performing web clipping at an intermediate clip servercomprising: performing an intermediate rendering by accessing at leastone source web site, executing some or all scripts of a web document ofthe accessed source web site, establishing a clip instance on the basisof said intermediate rendering transmitting said clip instance to aclient browser.
 2. Method of performing web clipping according to claim1, wherein said intermediate rendering is furthermore updated on thebasis of events at the client browser.
 3. Method of performing webclipping according to claim 1, wherein said events are established atleast partially by view controller in the client browser.
 4. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, at an intermediate clipserver performing an intermediate rendering by accessing at least onesource web site, parsing at least a part of a web document obtained fromsaid source web site into the an intermediate document objectmodel(IDOM) and executing some or all scripts of the source web site,establishing a clip instance on the basis of said intermediate renderingtransmitting said clip instance to a client browser.
 5. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said web documentcomprises an HTML document.
 6. Method of performing web clippingaccording to claim 1, wherein said establishing of a clip instance isestablished by an extraction of said web document.
 7. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said establishingof a clip instance involves a clipping in said web document withreference to said intermediate DOM.
 8. Method of performing web clippingaccording to claim 1, wherein said clip instance is transmitted to theclient browser via an encrypted protocol.
 9. Method of performing webclipping according to claim 1 wherein said clip instance is transmittedto the client browser via HTTP/HTTPS by small XML packets.
 10. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said clip instanceis transmitted to the client browser by means of IP packets.
 11. Methodof performing web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said webclipping is performed as a part of a continuous accessing of said atleast one source web site.
 12. Method of performing web clippingaccording to claim 1, wherein said transmitting of said clip instanceduring said continuous accessing is at least partly controlled by clientbrowser events.
 13. Method of performing web clipping according to claim1, wherein said clip instance comprises partial clip updates.
 14. Methodof performing web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said partialclip updates are transmitted as changes in said clip instance to theclient browser by means of AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML). 15.Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1, wherein saidclip instance defines a partial view of the accessed source web site andwherein at least a part of said partial view is established on the basisof code executed on said intermediate clip server.
 16. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said intermediateclip server is at least partially controlled by means of clip settings.17. Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1, wherein saidclip instance comprises scripts to be executed in said client browser.18. Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1, wherein saidclip instance contains modified actions such as links, click events orbrowser events referring to the intermediate clip server.
 19. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said clip instanceutilizes a view controller available to the user of the client browserfor performing interactive actions between the client browser and thesource web site.
 20. Method of performing web clipping according toclaim
 1. Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1, whereinsaid view controller updates the view established by the client browseron the basis of said partial clip update.
 21. Method of performing webclipping according to claim 1 wherein said view controller transmitsevents established in relation to an event model of the client browseras event information to the intermediate clip server.
 22. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein the intermediateclip server communicates with said client browser via a LAN, WAN or theInternet.
 23. Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1,wherein the intermediate clip server communicates with said at least onesource web site via a LAN, WAN or the Internet.
 24. Method of performingweb clipping according to claim 1, wherein said clip instance isestablished on the basis of clip settings established by a clipselector.
 25. Method of performing web clipping according to claim 1,wherein said establishing of a clip instance is established by anextraction and modification of said web document.
 26. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said intermediaterendering is performed by a reentrant web browser.
 27. Method ofperforming web clipping according to claim 1, wherein said intermediateclip server transforms and combines data in a clip applicable for datacollection and logic integration.
 28. System comprising at least onesource web sites an intermediate clip server and at least one clientcomprising a client browser, wherein said system performs the methodaccording to claim
 1. 29. Intermediate clip server comprising means forperforming an intermediate rendering by accessing at least one sourceweb site, executing some or all scripts of a web document of theaccessed source web site (SWS), means for establishing a clip instanceon the basis of said intermediate rendering and means for transmittingsaid clip instance to a client browser.
 30. Intermediate serveraccording to claim 26, wherein said server performs an intermediaterendering according to the method comprising: performing an intermediaterendering by accessing at least one source web site, executing some orall scripts of a web document of the accessed source web site,establishing a clip instance on the basis of said intermediate renderingtransmitting said clip instance to a client browser.